Charles Melvin Hudson Jr. (1932–2013) was an anthropologist, a professor of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and history at the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

. He was a leading scholar on the history and culture of

Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the no ...

of the present-day United States. He is known for his book mapping the expedition of Spanish explorer

Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1497 – 21 May 1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, ...

in the mid-16th century in the Southeast, based on both the expedition's records and sites identified through archeology and anthropology. He also published books with detailed discussion of two 16th-century Spanish expeditions in the Southeast: ''Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando De Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms'' (1997) and ''The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Exploration of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566–1568'' (2005).

Life

Born in 1932, Hudson grew up on a farm in

Owen County, Kentucky Owen County is a County (United States), county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Its county seat is Owenton, Kentucky, Owenton. The county is named for Colonel (United States), Colonel Abraham Owen. It is a prohibitio ...

, and attended local schools. He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. After the war, he used the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

to attend the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

, receiving a bachelor's degree in anthropology in 1958. He pursued graduate studies in anthropology at the

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

, earning an M.A. (1962) and a Ph.D. (1965). Upon earning his doctorate, he became a faculty member in the anthropology department at the University of Georgia. He served there for 35 years as a professor of anthropology and history, retiring in 2007. In retirement, Hudson returned to Kentucky. He died at Frankfort on June 8, 2013.

Scholarly work

Hudson published ''The Southeastern Indians'' (University of Tennessee Press, 1976), a comprehensive overview of the region's native peoples. He was perhaps best known for his extensive research of

's 1539–1543 expedition across the Southeast. In 1984, Hudson and fellow researchers Marvin T. Smith and Chester DePratter mapped the route taken by de Soto's expedition by using written accounts of expedition members, and matching them with geographic features and the results of continuing excavations of archaeological evidence of Indian settlements. Hudson and his colleagues argued that the sites of these settlements formed a chain across the Southeast that marked the path that would have been taken by the expedition. His other works included ''Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun'' (University of Georgia Press, 1997), a detailed narrative account of the 16th century de Soto expedition, and ''The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Exploration of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566–1568'' (2005), about a second expedition, during which the Spanish built six forts. In the 21st century, archeological evidence has been found for both Fort San Juan, and the chiefdom of

Joara Joara was a large Native American settlement, a regional chiefdom of the Mississippian culture, located in what is now Burke County, North Carolina, about 300 miles from the Atlantic coast in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Joara is n ...

. Joara was the largest Mississippian culture chiefdom in present-day North Carolina. A strong advocate of fostering close ties between the disciplines of anthropology and history, Hudson was one of the founders of the

Southern Anthropological Society The Southern Anthropological Society (SAS) is an organization in the United States. It publishes a journal titled ''Southern Anthropologist'' and issues a newsletter. It awards a James Mooney Award (James Mooney James Mooney (February 10, 1861 � ...

. He served as president of the organization in 1973–74. In 1993–94 he served as president of the

American Society for Ethnohistory American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

. In his retirement, Hudson began writing historical novels.

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Works

* Hudson, Charles M., ''The Southeastern Indians''. University of Tennessee Press. 1976. * Hudson, Charles M., ''Black Drink: A Native American Tea''. University of Georgia Press. 1979. * Hudson, Charles M., ''Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando De Soto and the South's Ancient Chiefdoms'', University of Georgia Press, 1997. * Hudson, Charles M., ''Conversations with the High Priest of Coosa''. University of North Carolina Press. 2003. * Hudson, Charles M., and Carmen Chaves Tesser, ''The Forgotten Centuries''. University of Georgia Press. 1994. * Hudson, Charles M. (Editor), ''Red, White, and Black''. * Hudson, Charles M., ''The Juan Pardo Expeditions: Exploration of the Carolinas and Tennessee, 1566–1568''. University of Alabama Press. 2005. * Hudson, Charles M., ''The Packhorseman''. University of Alabama Press. 2009.

Life

Scholarly work

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Works

See also